Bristol Palin And A&E Sued Over TV Series

Bristol Palin is being sued again by talent manager Stephen Hanks because of her reality TV show. Sarah Palin’s daughter is the star of the floundering series Bristol Palin: Life’s A Tripp on Lifetime. Hanks filed a new lawsuit for defamation and invasion of privacy on June 28th. (He’d filed earlier this month seeking $75,000 against Palin and Lifetime.) Now Hanks says “plaintiff has learned of additional defendants”. Now being sued are Palin, Lifetime’s parent company A&E Television Network, production company Associated Television International, and Life’s A Tripp exec producer David McKenzie. In a 15-page civil complaint (read it here), Hanks is seeking unnamed compensatory damages, emotional distress damages, and punitive damages.

Palin’s show is getting more attention in the courts than it is from viewers. Life’s A Tripp proved a flop when it debuted on June 19th and has since been moved off A&E subsidiary Lifetime’s primetime schedule. There is still another lawsuit pending: Christopher and Kyle Masse are suing ATI and McKenzie alleging that the producers cut them out of the Bristol reality show on Lifetime. Unlike Hanks’ suit, Palin herself is not named in the Massey action. Hanks initially garnered attention for heckling Bristol over her mother’s politics. She in turn called him a “homosexual” in a heated encounter in a West Hollywood bar on September 22, 2011. Hanks later claimed he was filmed without permission. Hanks in his latest lawsuit says that because of Palin’s actions, which are described in the suit as “deliberate, malicious and despicable”, he has “suffered harm to his profession and occupation and expended money as a result of the statements”. Represented by LA’s Gulden & Associates, Hanks is seeking a 7- to 10-day jury trial here. A&E and ATI had no comment on Hanks lawsuit today.